Pakistan look for clean sweep

A confident Pakistan will look to their spinners to sweep the two-match series against a depleted South Africa when the second and final Test starts in Dubai on Wednesday.

Pakistan's spin duo of Saeed Ajmal and left-armer Zulfiqar Babar shared 11 wickets between them to guide their team to a seven-wicket win in the first Test in Abu Dhabi, only their fourth win in 22 Tests against South Africa.

Even the pacemen Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan took four wickets apiece as a formidable South Africa batting slumped to 249 and 232 in the two innings, with only Hashim Amla (118) and AB de Villiers (90) showing some resistance.

Pakistan rode on a brilliant 146 by opener Khurram Manzoor - the highest by a Pakistani batsman in a Test against South Africa - and a responsible 100 by captain Misbah-ul Haq to post a big 442-run total.

South Africa will be hard pressed to maintain their unbeaten run in an away series since losing in Sri Lanka in 2006. More so as Amla has returned home for the birth of his child while Steyn is nursing a hamstring injury.

Steyn, 30, had to cut short his training session on Sunday and did not train on Monday as he was seen working with South African physiotherapist Brandon Jackson. Team manager Mohammed Moosajee said Steyn will be monitored. "We should have a better idea of the situation tomorrow," Moosajee, South Africa's team manager told ESPNcricinfo. "We need a 24-hour period before we can determine exactly what's wrong."

South Africa's vice captain AB de Villiers also confirmed Steyn's fitness problems. "He did tweak something in the fielding practice yesterday, but we think it's not too serious, so we are just taking a good precaution and making sure he will be ready for the second Test match," said De Villiers on Monday.

Steyn, ranked number one bowler in Test rankings, took 3-88 in Pakistan's first innings of the Abu Dhabi Test and then grabbed one more in the second when Pakistan needed just 40 for the win. Left-hander Dean Elgar is due to replace Amla while Rory Kleinveldt is likely to fill in for Steyn.

South Africa will also look at their spin option to replace left-armer Robin Peterson, who failed to get a single wicket in the first Test, with Pakistan born leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

South African captain Graeme Smith expressed confidence that his team can bounce back. "We haven't been in this position too often," said Smith. "And with the standards that we set ourselves, we should have the ability to bounce back. The motivation is there. We are really motivated to win the next Test match. That's got to be our ultimate goal. We have to focus on making sure our plans are better."

On the contrary, Pakistan have a settled squad and will not tinker with the winning combination. But despite all the plusses, Misbah warned against complacency. "We are really playing the top side in the world, so our focus is on the next game," said Misbah, aiming to add to Pakistan's only series win over South Africa way back in 2003.

Misbah denied he wants a batting track in Dubai to draw the Test. "I don't think so we have given clear indications to the groundsman. We want a result, no doubt we want to exploit our home advantage and we will do that, but we want a result," said Misbah.

"Whenever you have negative thoughts in your mind it won't give you good results. We are positive about that, we want a result no matter whatever happens, if we win or lose, it doesn't matter."

A fine batting performance by Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla coupled with some excellent bowling from Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir helped South Africa beat Pakistan by 6 runs and take the T20I series 2-0.